I have two daughters. One takes hip hop and the other is in tumbling. The oldest doesn't want to take tumbling next year. So, I will save over $350, unless she decides to do something else.

Registration for next fall will happen in June, so I need to start saving for this. I used last years numbers to get me to a ballpark figure of $390 for just one hip hop class. It's possible the prices may go up, but I should be able to make up the difference if it does.

Here's the plan: Save $56 each payperiod for the next 7 pay periods! That gets me to $392. I'm glad I'm thinking about it now, so that I have time to save it up gradually. I could have been saving since last June, but I just didn't know whether they wanted to keep this dance and tumbling stuff up. This way will work, too.

The dance studio does have the option of paying monthly, but I would have to tag on an additional $47 for the recital fee. If I pay in full, then I can have this fee waived...that is then more than enough to cover her shoes.

Right now, I have buy recital tights and a cd of her dance music to practice at home. Luckily...only $13.60. I think I can handle that.

I have decided to stop some medication I'm taking with the consent of my doctor. I'm thrilled, since there have been a few unpleasant side effects.

Savings: $22/month

Just so you know and don't worry...this was entirely a health decision, not a financial one! The savings are just a bonus. I hope to pass this on to that home equity loan payoff!!

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I took my mother out to lunch yesterday for a wonderful mediterranean meal. We spent $28. Yummy!! She treated me to a new organic cotton shirt from the Life is Good line. It will be a great shirt for spring. I will wear it today since it will be about 70 degrees!

Make it a great day everybody!

I just got a peek at the bill for our auto insurance premium. It is increasing. That's always a little disappointing.

Okay, it's only going up by $26.84. That's equals an increase of $4.48 per month, since it is a 6 month policy.

This will require me to adjust our escrow payments we make each pay period. If I don't make this adjustment, eventually there won't be enough money in our account to cover these expected bills!

I think I'll increase the escrow amount to an even $5/month, or $2.50 per pay period. Easy enough!

The interest rate on our money market has fallen for at least the 3rd, or maybe the fourth month in a row. We are down to 2.4% APY.

Is everyone else experiencing something similar?

I wish the rate on my mortgage or home equity loans would go down without me asking!! One can dream, right?

I was talking to my sister today about how I budget and pay bills and find money to send towards our home equity loan.

We get two paychecks a month on the 1st and the 15th. They are virtually equal.

I first pay all bills and investments that are due during that time frame. Many of these are automatic, but I record them all in the checkbook.

Second, I mentally pull $700 from the remaining checkbook balance. This $700 is for auto fuel and groceries. We use it to pay clothing, kids lunches...whatever comes up during that pay period. Sometimes this isn't enough. I'll explain that later.

Finally, the remaining amount after bills, investments and our $700 is the amount I should have available to send in to our home equity loan.

This is the basic plan each pay period. We have a second checking account that holds our escrow funds (see my page on the right about that) and a small cushion of cash. This small cushion is not more than $500. Right now it is actually $250!

So, if the $700 runs out we attempt to curb spending or dip into the cushion in our 2nd checking account. We also can dip further into our emergency fund for large car repairs, ect. If we do borrow from the EF it gets paid back with the extra funds we get the following pay period, or as many pay periods as it takes.

If we know of expenses in the future, we simply put the cash aside ahead of time. For example, I expect to purchase a new sink for our kitchen at some point. When the time comes I will reduce the extra principal payment to the home equity loan by the amount I need for the sink.

So, clear as mud? Does that make sense? I hope it helps someone out there. It works for us. I already have a handle on most of our spending so that helps keeps things working smoothly.

Feel free to ask questions!

I went grocery shopping today with the girls. We spent $65 for a weeks worth of groceries!!

This is lower than our regular $110+ we usually spend. So, why the drop? DH will be out of town this week. No chips to buy, no excess diet coke, less meat. I also bought some of our regular items on sale and shopped the cabinets before making our list.

I've already planned our Valentine's Day dinner: manicotti, cresent rolls, broccoli and pound cake with strawberries (and a little cool whip on the side). I may break down and buy some wine later.

It looks like my Federal refund is pending to be deposited tomorrow...just as expected! That's another $610 that will go to the home equity loan.

Our water bill went down by $7 this past month. Apparently, we are not showering as much or doing as much laundry! Maybe that's not a good thing.

Our electricity usage went down as well by 181 kWh's. That equals a savings of $15. We did intall $50 worth of CFL bulbs early in January and I stopped using our desktop computer as much (it is just too slow). So, I hope that trend continues. That $50 in for the CFL's was a gift...so $0 out of our pocket.

Next week, DH is out of town. I usually save money when he is gone, since all of his expenses (i.e. coke addiction) are paid by the Army. He also won't be driving to work for a full week and one less mouth to feed!

That's all of the tidbits for now!

I wish the interest was on a loan, but no, it is with our money market account.

It has dropped every month for the last few months. I think we started at 3.5%, but now it is dropping from 2.8% to 2.6%. Just a sign of the times. At least we are still earning interest!

I logged on to our bank accounts today to see that our account was negative! Yikes. Okay, it was only $2.50. After a little reseach, I realized that our automatic roth contributions were more than I had recorded in the checkbook. I apparently had not changed our automatic investment amount from last year...when I was playing catch up for part of the year.

So, easily fixed by moving some cushion money to our checking account. I also dropped our roth contributions for February to account for the larger amount this month. Starting in March, I will move our automatic investments to the correct amount.

Can you tell that I really push the amount in our checking account close to $0 each month? We save our cushion money in another checking account. It helps us not to overspend...but when we do a transfer is in order. It helps us keep on track. At least Friday is payday!!

I tend to cut things close with our budget. I have $47.41 to last thru Wednesday. DH may need fuel for his car, but otherwise I think we will have enough money to make it. Thursday is payday!!

We will be stuck at home tonight, so I expect a no spend day. We have blizzard winds on there way for the evening and overnight. Brr!

I made it to the gym today despite the snow. I burned 510 calories on the elliptical and lifted weights. I weighed myself this morning and lost 1 pound since last week!! I'll take it.

Oh this is so exciting! It's not very often I make a new investment.

I'm in investing in energy saving bulbs. Yes, the now famous CFL bulbs! I specifically asked for a Home Depot gift card from my parents for Christmas so I could purchase a few. I didn't specify an amount, but they were generous and gave me $50.

Did you know that CFL's come in soft white, bright white and daylight? We bought the bright light, but after trying them in our living room we decided they were a little too bright for our preferences. We moved these to the garage and the basement where brighter light is more desirable.

We are taking the other bright white bulbs back to exchange them for the soft white. These are actually a little cheaper, too. So, we'll get to pick up a few more!! We are replacing as many as we can with the $50, starting with the lights we use the most often.

It will be interesting to see what kind of return I get on this investment. Of course, my actual outlay is $0 thanks to my gift card. So, any result should be positive!!

I should probably start unplugging my microwave, too. I hear those are huge energy hogs, just because of that little light!

Tomorrow is payday and we seem to have made it though the pay period with $100 left in the checking account! I think it will go to the HEL, but I'll report that when it actually gets done!

We went to a movie yesterday on a $30 Visa gift card we received from friends. We still spent an additional $12.50 out of our own pocket at the concession stand for the four of us! I don't usually do this, but we splurged since the tickets were paid for!

While we were at the mall, I found some candle pillar holders and a large picture for our family room. I used my birthday money to puchase these. The candle holders I've been looking for and I got three for $15. The picture is large,about 3' x 3'. According to the tag it was marked down to $50 from $70. It rang up for $39.98!! We have already put it on the wall and it looks great. Now I need a new couch!!

So, maybe you have already sneaked a peak at our 2009 financial goals on the sidebar...but here's the official blog entry of our goals!

1) Save 15% of gross income for retirement.
We max out our Roths at $5000 each, in addition to 4% to my husbands TSP.

2) Save $2000 x 2 for college
We send in $166 for each daughter monthly.

3) Pay down HEL loan by $7000. Beginning balance $13,999.
This will require an average of $533/mo in extra principal payments. Regular payments are $118.01. Total per month $651.

4) Take a vacation with cash, location and amount to be determined.
Approximately $1500-$2000. May use tax refund towards this goal.

We will need to be the most disciplined with the last two. I plan to send in $266 on the 1st and $267 on the 15th of each month to the HE loan to get the $533 extra accomplished. Since we will most likely use tax refund money for vacation, we will need to pick our destination and spending according to the available cash!

The first two are already part of our financial goals from this past year...so those will simply be continued. How are your goals coming along?

I opened an email from the online bank that has our emergency fund money. The interet rate is going down from 3.25% to 2.80%. I'm not happy about this, but what can I expect in this economy.

I can say that we are still earning more than we were by having it sit in a traditional savings account. So, I will stay focused on that.

The account has about $10K in it and it is our emergency fund money. I haven't had to touch that money in over a year...maybe more. I'm wondering if I should put half in a CD to try to offset some of these falling interest rates. The same bank has 12 month CD's at 3.25%.

Any thoughts on whether that is wise? Since we are military our job is stable...no chance of a layoff!

At the beginning of the 2008, I just had hopes of sending some additional funds in to our home equity loan. Read that again: I didn't have a plan...just hopes!

As I look back, I know why I just had hopes. First, our income was lower at this time last year, we didn't get a raise until March. I put specifics on other goals that were more of a priority to us. Those priorities were investing for college and retirement. So, my mind set was to meet the priorities first and hope to do something about that HEL I want to pay off.

We met those priority goals with flying colors. We funded our Roth IRA to the max at $5K each. My husband had 4% withdrawn automatically to his TSP. This resulted in a savings of 15% of our gross income. We also consistently sent in $167 to each daughters college fund to meet our goal of $2000 invested for each of them.

The hope goal of sending in additional money to the home equity loan was less than stellar, in my opinion. In 2008, we paid an additional $1,456.44 to our home equity loan.

Why do I think it is less than stellar? It is less than 10% of the original balance. That is just not going to cut it if I want this thing paid off two years from now. The math just doesn't add up. I think I also know that we could have done better with how we spent some of our money. It could have gone to the HEL!

Okay, I'm not going to get too upset about my hope goal. I do realize that the additional money I paid averages out to over $121 per month extra. That is a whole extra payment per month! I actually didn't start sending in additional funds until June of 2008. That would bring my average per month quite a bit higher.

So, my "hope" goal did get me somewhere. I did get ahead, but it didn't get me where I thought I would get. My goal wasn't as flushed out as it could have been.

Next year will be better. I will define the end result I want to attain in as much detail as possible. More on those details later!! Really.

How did your "hope" goals work out this year? Are you going to improve those goals for next year?

My daughters have a holiday dance/tumbling recital today. They are to wear black pants, capris or shorts with their dance t shirt.

My oldest daughter specifically wanted capris...those are kind of hard to find in the middle of winter!! Youngest daughter wanted to do the same thing. Ugh!

So, yesterday I spent 45 minutes hemming the both pairs of black pants they wore to last years holiday recital into capris!! Free dance wear...can't beat that!!

I would have spent at least $18 on two new pairs from Children's Place. I guess I even saved a trip to the mall!

I bought all of this for $9.92 out of pocket. I also received a free $5 gift card to Target and a $2 Walgreen's register rewards. So, $7 to buy more stuff!!

Pop was $10 at Walgreen's and I had a gift card. The crackers and cookies were on sale at Target. With the purchase of 5 items, I received the gift card. I had $4 in coupons to use towards those.

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On another note, I did finish wrapping all my Christmas presents today. Yep...all done!

Yesterday, I took our van in for a scheduled oil change at the Honda dealership. We had an appointment at 10:30am. The girls went with me. When I dropped it off the service advisor said he had me on the list and we went to wait.

It's a nice waiting area and it was pretty busy. The girls got a donut and hot chocolate. We brought books to read.

After 45 minutes, I see people there before me leaving. I figure we'll be told soon that our van is ready. At just under an hour, I see someone who came after me leave. So after 65 minutes, I inquire with the original service advisor how much longer I will have to wait. He gets my name and says is that your Odyssey over there...I look and yes it is mine. It has been moved, but not out of the entrance bay!!

He says he didn't realize I was here...what? I spoke to him and he had my name on his list. I guess the list showed I had a red Odyssey...rather than a gray one! When he realizes the error, he tells me he'll get it in right away and there will be no charge. Good news!

Good news follows better news...I get three free car washes, too! They finish the van 20 minutes from my initial inquiry. An hour and 25 minutes later, I'm on my way! It was free, but quite a painful wait!!

We made it to our goal, with one day to spare!!

Old Balance = $733.01
Nov Interest $26.39
Pinecone $3.00
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New Balance = $762.40

The goal was $750, so we exceeded that by $12.37! Any excess after completing our shopping is going to the home equity loan.

I have 8 items up on ebay, with four that have bids. The other 4 look like they may sell as well. This money would have gone to my holiday challenge fund, but now it will be set aside to make a payment to the home equity loan in December.

It's going to be a debt free Christmas!! I'm thrilled! How about you?

With the economy tanking, we haven't changed one thing with our investments. That's what you are suppose to do, right? Buy low, sell high.

We have continued to send in our daughter's education contributions as well as our Roth contributions. Same amounts, same time of the month. We even are investing in the same mutual funds we have always been in.

Those low prices allow us to buy more shares in those mutual funds than we could before. In time, when the economy recovers, those same shares will be worth much more. I'm looking forward to those days, too! And they are coming...just don't ask me to predict when!!

I am so close to meeting our holiday cash account goal of $750. I'm less than $34 away.

I added a $3 Pinecone check today. I also decided that the Land's End gift card I received in the amount of $119.25 would also go to this fund. If you want to know about that...see the previous post.

Old Balance $594.26
Pinecone $3.00
Land's End $119.25
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New Balance $716.51

Only 9 more days to accumulate more! I expect to make up the difference with ebay sales and interest on our money market account.

Side note: I've been amused at myself with this challenge. I think it is interesting that I decided to save this way for Christmas, rather than using this technique for paying down our HEL. Of course, after the holidays I won't have any other choice but to do so!!

Yesterday, I wrote that my holiday cash account had a balance of $549.11. It is now at $594.26!!!

I made a sale on ebay and netted $45.15.

I am now only $155.74 away from my $750 goal....I'm so excited!

Several posts back, I explained that I have been trying to accumulate the cash for the holidays outside our regular budget. Most of the cash has come from ebay sales. The goal is $750.

Currently, I have accumulated $549.11! I am short only $200. I will continue to put items up on ebay until at least December 1st. I also will add the interest that is earned in our savings acccounts at the end of the month.

I only started this challenge for myself back in late September after I made $60 at our garage sale. I decided to stash the cash away for the holidays. I honestly never thought I would get so much cash outside our regular budget...but I did.

If I can do it, so can you! If not this year, maybe next year. If not for the holidays, then maybe some other goal.

Just a note: I have actually started shopping in small amounts, so the amount I have on hand is less than the amount above...but I'm keeping track of everything so I know whether I meet my goal or not.

I also have a small goal not to spend the whole $750...the extra can go to our home equity loan!

We made it to payday without using all the cash left in our checking account. We have just under $40 left. I'm thrilled.

I must say I think we made it because DH was out of town. I would have made different (ie. more expensive) meals. He would have probably needed gas for his car.

I'm also left with $14 in cash. I have put $10 aside for the Christmas fund. I will hold onto the $4 for daughters lunch next week.

I guess it doesn't really matter why it happened, just that it did and I'm excited about it! Here's to the rest of the month being just as successful!
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FYI...there's a $5 coupon off a $20 purchase at Walgreen's for this Friday & Saturday. You can get it

here.

We received notice yesterday that our mortgage payment will drop by over $22 per month beginning in January. The escrow payment rose by less than a dollar. Because it is a fixed mortgage, our P&I payment are also the same. So, what gives?

It appears that that the reserve requirement has dropped. That's nice...I really don't want them holding on to more money than necessary.

I expect that the extra money will now be applied to our home equity loan. That's an extra $271.44 per year ($22.62 x 12)!!

I did a quick budget to see how much cash I would need for the holidays...about $750!! I have been saving since September and have accumulated about $450 so far. Here's where the money has come from:

1) Garage sale proceeds $60

2) Craigslist proceeds $10

3) Ebay sales $237

4) Debit card rewards $50

5) Target gift card $10

6) Survey points redeemed $30

7) Money market interest $35

8) Misc cash $18
I pulled a few dollars here and there from my purse and DH's wallet.

Now I still need another $300. I am trying to find this money outside our regular budget when possible. Last night I found several more high quality items to sell on ebay. Those will be up and running on Sunday.

If I can't accumulate it outside our regular budget...I will dip in, but I'm sure not ready to dip in yet!! I'm also going to be looking for bargains...maybe I won't need to spend $750. That would make me very happy!!

These are the goals we set for 2008:

1)Save 15% of gross salary - retirement
2)Save $2000 for each child - college
3)Save down payment & purchase newer van
4)Begin to payoff home equity loan

The college and retirement investments are on track to be completed as planned. Automatic payments on the retirement plan sure help there!

We did save money for our Honda Odyssey purchase back in May. We are paying nearly $500 a month for a loan that has a 3.9% interest rate. I am pleased that over $400 goes to principal every month.

We have made extra payments on the home equity loan this year in the amount of $709.12. This is far less than I thought we would send in, but the year is not over.

We did have a car repair in this last month that took away some extra cash I was hoping to send in...but I'm sure I might be able to come up with more cash by the end of the year.

I'd be happy with at least another $300, but love to find another $800+ so I could get the loan under the $14K mark. Wish us luck!!

It was very windy yesterday. I happened to be down in our unfinished basement near a window. It was just plain cold there.

So, I did a little investigating and found that there was pretty large gap between the top of the window and the wood framing. There was some insulation between, but it was actually slipping out to the outside of the house!! I could see it through the window.

I found some foam backing strips from a recent driveway project and stuffed it in the gap. There was still air coming through...so I found some window caulk we had used on windows in our last house. I caulked over the foam and around the the window. It is a whole lot better. I really need to caulk from the outside, too. I will do that in a day or two, when it warms up a little more.

That gap was like having a window open all year! I do wish I found it sooner, but at least I found it. I expect that it will help our energy bill.

FYI...when you buy a tube of caulk and don't use it all you can put a screw in the opening to keep it from drying out. When you need to use again, simply remove screw and the small dried amount at the top and the rest of the caulk is as good as new!

I'm loving these Walgreen's bargains lately. In two transactions I scored the following...

Airheads candy
2 Lysol toilet bowl cleaner
3 200ct Kleenex
2 3pks of Scotch Tape
3 Triaminic Strips (for kids)



My total out of pocket was $13.41. Tax was $1.67. I'm even eligible for a $2 rebate on the tape! I also received a coupon for $1 off my next purchase at Walgreens.

There is another coupon this week for $5 off a $20 purchase. You can get it

here. I didn't use one this week for my deals...it would have caused me to spend more than necessary. Can't have that!!

Today and tomorrow, Walgreen's has coupons for $5 off a $25 purchase. You do have to spend $25 after all discounts and coupons. You can get your coupon

here.

Today I purchased the following:
2 Glade Scents 2*3.29 = 6.58
2 Glade Gel Warmers 2*1.99 = 2.98
2 Glade Oil Refills 2*1.99 = 2.98
Crest Toothpast 3.00
Glide Flossers 3.00
2 Hershey bars 2*.39 = 0.78
4 Bars Dove Soap 4*1.19 = 4.76
2 Hefty Storage Bags B1G1 = 3.29
Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent 2.99
2 Conditioners 2*3.99 = 7.98
(Herbal Essences)

Total Before Coupons $40.34
B1G1 MQ Glade Scents -3.29
Glide Floss MQ -1.00
Crest MQ -1.00
Conditioner MQ -3.00
B1G1 MQ Glade Warmer -1.99
B1G1 MQ Glade Oil refill -1.99
50% off Conditioner -2.00
Laundry Detergent MQ -1.00
Walgreens coupon -5.00
Subtotal $20.07
Tax 2.00
Out of Pocket Total $22.07

I used $20.27 in coupons or discounts. I will get a $1 rebate for each glade item and $1 on the laundry detergent for a total of $7 back.

At the time of my transaction two Register Rewards printed, one for $3.00 because of the Dove purchase and one for $2.00 because of the Crest purchase. I can use these on my next purchase at Walgreen's.

So today I got all of this for $10.07:
Out of pocket $22.07
Less Rebates -7.00
Less Rewards -5.00
Total $10.07
Here's the picture:

If you are interested in these kinds of deals at Walgreen's or CVS you may want to check out this website. If you register on the site, you can also search the coupon database for coupons you can print right from your home computer.

In case anyone is wondering, will I use all of this stuff? YES!! Everyday, I use soap, conditioner, laundry detergent, toothpaste and floss. I also use storage bags and was out here at home. The Hershey bars will be a treat for the girls. The glade items were technically all free after the rebates and coupons...and they will be used here at home (we do have cats!) or donated to my daughter's teacher who uses them at school.

I'd love to hear about your deals. I actually did better last week on lots of cleaning supplies.